Rodney Warren Boxberger (born August 22, 1957) is a former

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He won the 1978 College World Series Most Outstanding Player award while a junior at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC).

Professional career

Boxberger was drafted twice by two different major league teams. In the 1975 amateur draft, he was taken in the second round by the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

. In

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, he was taken in the first round, 11th overall, by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

. He played six years professionally, never reaching the big leagues. His first professional season was 1978. He split the season between the Daytona Beach Astros and

Columbus Astros Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo (surname), Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus ...

. He went 1–2 with a 1.20

ERA An era is a span of time. Era or ERA may also refer to: * Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time * Calendar era Education * Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school * ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia * E ...

in three games with Daytona Beach and 5–5 with a 4.18 ERA in 11 games with Columbus. In 1979, Boxberger played with the Columbus Astros again, going 6–7 with a 4.80 ERA in 21 games. For the third year in a row, Boxberger played with Columbus again in 1980, and for the third year in a row his stats dropped. He went 4–13 with a 5.62 ERA in 23 games in 1980. He wound up in the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

organization in 1981, playing for the Double-A

Nashville Sounds The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the ci ...

. He went 4–9 with a 4.54 ERA in 23 games that year. Boxberger played the final two years of his professional career in the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

organization. In 1982, he played for the

Holyoke Millers The Holyoke Millers were a minor league baseball team located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The team played in the Eastern League. Their home stadium was Mackenzie Stadium. The Millers played from 1977 to 1982 and was a farm team of the Milwau ...

, going 5–9 with a 3.78 ERA. He played for the Nashua Angels in 1983, going 5–10 with a 5.43 ERA. Overall, Boxberger has a career record of 30–55 with a 4.67 ERA in 134

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

games. He walked 504 batters and struck out 389 in 702

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

Personal

Boxberger graduated from Foothill High School in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

. His son,

Brad Boxberger Bradley George Boxberger (born May 27, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwauk ...

, was a reliever in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxberger, Rod Living people 1957 births USC Trojans baseball players Daytona Beach Astros players Columbus Astros players Nashville Sounds players Holyoke Millers players Nashua Angels players College World Series Most Outstanding Player Award winners